Lighthouse gets €150K facelift
HOOK LIGHTHOUSE has just got a whole lot flashier.
After already being labelled the world's flashiest lighthouse by the Lonely Planet guide, the 800-year-old local lighthouse was significantly enhanced by the opening of new facilities on Saturday.
€150,000 was invested in a number of projects at the world's oldest intact operational Lighthouse on the Hook Peninsula in county Wexford including restoring the cobbled yard area and adding to this area a raised viewing gantry and an outdoor performance area free for use to community groups. Repairs to the 1860's Lighthouse Keeper houses on the site, and the addition of a dedicated area displaying Coast Guard and Whale and dolphin exhibitions and items of local nautical interest.
Chairman of Hook Lighthouse Larry O'Brien said, ‘We are delighted to be moving further forward with the development of this heritage site, Hook Lighthouse is an iconic tourist attraction on the Wexford coastline and these improvements can only add to the visitor experience; the new gantry will provide a raised walkway with the most spectacular of sea views, the cobbled yard is a step back in time and the new addition of the stage area really makes Hook Lighthouse a multipurpose venue.’
Historian of Hook Lighthouse and board member Dr Billy Colfer detailed the importance of reinstating the original cobble yard and the maintenance of the original buildings including a pig yard, which houses the history of the Coastguard and Whale and Dolphin exhibition centre.
‘ The cobbled yard represents the original three-century old lighthouse enclosure. The resetting of the original cobbles creates a link with the past and facilitates the development of a new ground-level tour incorporating the monks' chapel, the original entrance with sentry box, the watch room and the gun-powder magazine. The redeveloped pig yard now houses an original Coastguard horse drawn carriage from the 1800s and an array of information about our now annual visitors the Whales and Dolphins.’
The world famous lighthouse at Hook Head has been open to the public for the last 10 years and further information on the site can be found on visitwexford.ie and hookheritage.ie